Pyramid Head
Pyramid Head is a monster introduced in Silent Hill 2, and has since become one of the series' most iconic monsters. Appearance This creature has had a number of different looks for the series, often times changing in coordination with the characters of the game and their mentalities. Pyramid Head made his debut as the tormentor of James Sunderland in Silent Hill 2, which cast him as a physically fit male wearing a smock or apron, burdened with a large, red, rusty, pyramid shaped helmet with a hole drilled in the front side. As seen in the first skirmish with him, a "tongue"-like appendage can snake its way out of this hole and impale any creature within its reach. He also wears rubber gloves over what appear to be fused fingers. He drags either his massive signature weapon, the Great Knife, around with him whenever stalking James, or a spear. His appearance here is very similar to that of Valtiel. Pyramid Head also makes an appearance in Silent Hill: The Arcade, where he plays a miniboss. His role in the game is unknown, but the symbolism behind him makes it very possible that his being there is a coincidence. He is basically the same as his Silent Hill 2 counterpart. In the Silent Hill film, Pyramid Head is quite different. He is over eight feet tall, highly muscular, and wears a black, more triangular helmet with grated patches on the sides that appears to be bolted onto his head. He drags around the Great Knife in pursuit of Rose DaSilva and Cybil Bennet, appearing only in the Otherworld. He also lacks the gloves and fused fingers. His helmet is much sharper, narrower, and vertical than before. In Silent Hill: Homecoming, Pyramid Head, known here as the Bogeyman, appears much closer to his film incarnation. He is not quite as massive, but still towers over Alex Shepherd. His forearm appears to be soaked in blood, and his helmet is nearly identical to the type seen in the film. He carries around a larger, more wicked blade, known as the Bogeyman Knife, which has been made to look like a military knife, with a serrated edge and a tapered point. Symbolism Overall, Pyramid Head seems to be a fixed part of Silent Hill, and his purpose is canonically that of a punisher and/or executioner. Just because a character can see him and interact with him, doesn't necessarily mean they are his intended victim, although of course, that doesn't make them safe, should they impede upon whatever murder he is intending to commit. Silent Hill 2 Here, Pyramid Head is the tormentor of James Sunderland. He has taken on physical aspect and actions that are meant to target the tormented psyche of James, his sin being that he murdered his wife, Mary. Pyramid Head is seen as sexually agressive, often seen raping other monsters, which is meant to target James's sexual frustration. He also (repeatedly) murders Maria, who is the more sexualized manifestation of James's late wife, Mary. He can occasionally be seen tugging and pulling at his mask, apparently painful to wear, and may grunt when struck or shot. Silent Hill: The Arcade Pyramid Head's appearance and acts in this game are dumbfounding, as it has no correlation with his purpose and he does not seem to have any specific target other than Jessie, and then Eric and Tina. It is most likely that he is in Silent Hill at the moment to punish an unnamed someone, and Jessie happened upon him by accident. Silent Hill Film Here, Pyramid Head was created by Alessa as a rather more dangerous monster used to murder cultists who failed to make it into the church before her Otherworld descended. He is qute single-minded in his stalking, as he desires only to kill. He does not even seem to notice the Creepers swarming all around him the first two times he is encountered. He is simply a monstrous killing machine, and appears to be quite proud of it too, as seen in his murder of Anna. Silent Hill: Homecoming The Bogeyman's role in this game is not a punisher of Alex Shepherd, but an executioner of his father, Adam Shepherd, no doubt for his role in the events of the game thus far. The symbolism behind this incarnation of Pyramid Head is significantly more deep and cold-blooded, as he stars in a number of children's drawings depicting a monster punishing children in terrible ways, supported by disturbing rhymes, which were likely used by the parents of Silent Hill to terrify their children into obedience. His militaristic knife hints at Adam Shepherd's time in the military and Alex's delusions of being a soldier. He himself is entirely silent in this game, never making any noise other than by his blade. He not only does not pursue Alex, he entirely ignores him, even when Alex is in plain view less than 15 feet away. Game Encounters Silent Hill 2 Here, Pyramid Head is first seen standing on the other side of a set of bars in the apartment complex, carrying no weapon and seemingly no threat to James. Later, a cutscene shows James walking in on Pyramid Head raping two Mannequins. He quickly hides in the closet, prompting Pyramid Head to stop and investigate. One of the Mannequins, which he is dragging with one hand, spasms quickly before apparently dying. This does not distract the monster for more than a few seconds, though, and he reaches for the closet handle before James pulls his handgun and fires several rounds, irritating Pyramid Head and causing him to leave. James once again meets Pyramid Head after his second encounter with the suicidal Angela Orosco, this time raping a Lying Figure, which also dies. Pyramid Head stands up, and James attempts to run, but the door is locked and the only other exit is down a flooded stairway. A "battle" begins, wherein Pyramid Head weilds his Great Knife and attacks. He has a side swipe, which he can do very quickly and severely wounds James, and an overhead swing, which is much slower, as it requires the huge knife to be lifted over the the monster, and will instantly kill James, even on Easy difficulty. To actually fight Pyramid Head is pointless, as gunshots will merely bounce off the metal helmet and to attack with a melee weapon would put James much too close to the monster, putting him in range of both the knife, and Pyramid Head's grapple move, wherein he will grab James by the throat and lift him into the air, aiming to impale him with his tongue. However, while bullets do not have any effect, multiple shots can slow him down, which can be helpful if the player is tiring of running around the small room. Eventually, sirens will sound, and Pyramid Head will descend down the stairs, which will then drain of water, freeing James to move on. Note: When Pyramid Head is walking down the stairs, DO NOT FOLLOW HIM. He can and will turn around and attack James again. Don't make this mistake, get killed, and have to repeat the whole process again. The next time James encounters Pyramid Head is with Maria, and the two will have to run through a series of hallways to escape him. Maria seems to be Pyramid Head's intended target, and allowing her to be killed will result in a game over, just as it would in any other case. However, once the end of the hallways is reached, a cutscene will trigger and James will escape into the elevator, but it will close just before Maria can get in. James and Maria try to get the doors open, but Pyramid Head catches up and kills Maria, and the doors close. James is broken, and upon reaching a stop, he decides to refocus on finding Mary. The next encounter with Pyramid Head is in a cutscene. Here, he appears behind James, and pushes him through a fence and down to ground level. James does not see Pyramid Head again until the Labyrinth. Here he finds Maria, behind a set of bars, and apparently in full health. She speaks to him cryptically, saying things only Mary would know, and implies sexual favors if James can get her out. However, when he gets back and is able to open the cell, Pyramid Head has already gotten there, and she is dead. Maria here appears to have been beaten to death. After James recovers, he sets off into the labyrinth again. Pyramid Head is in two places here, and will pursue James if encountered. However, he can be shaken off after a while and he can be easily circumvented by passing the areas where he is. On the other hand, paying a visit to the executioner's quarters can be worth it as James can aquire his knife (this is not necessary and is not strictly advised, as it is a slow, cumbersome weapon). In the labyrinth, James encounters Eddie Dombrowski and Angela again, and after having saved Angela and regrettably been forced to kill Eddie, he reaches the end. It is here that James can only look in horror as, on a ledge above him, two Pyramid Heads reveal Maria, once again alive, however, she is strung upside down, and she screams for James to help her before she is impaled on one of the monsters' spears. The two Pyramid Heads descend to James's level and attack. James, realizing that the Pyramid Head is there to punish him for his sins, stands up and fights back. This fight is different from the first, as there is more room to manuever and the twin monsters carry lightweight spears this time. They are still invulnerable, but after they have taken enough punishment, the Pyramid Heads, realizing they are no longer needed, impale themselves on their own spears, and James is able to proceed. Silent Hill: The Arcade Here, Pyramid Head attacks Eric's and Tina's friend, Jessie. If the player can defeat Pyramid Head within a certain amount of time and keep him from killing her, then the ending is affected. He is slow, but quite as dangerous as in the second game. Silent Hill Film Here, Pyramid Head is seen three times. The first, Rose DaSilva, while still in handcuffs, watches him approach from down the hall, literally dragging his way through mounds of Creepers, knife in hand. She runs, and he does not appear to follow until later. Some time after that, Cybil and Rose have met up, still in the Otherworld, and are catching their breath in a small room. They hear scraping from outside, and Cybil arms her gun and aims it at the wall. Outside, Pyramid Head approaches, still followed by swarms of Creepers. After some deliberation, he plunges his knife through the steel door easily, the tip coming inches from Cybil's face. Cybil and Rose scream, backing away. Pyramid Head draws his knife back and shoves it through the door again, this time turning it so that it twists through the metal towards Rose and Cybil. The Creepers all around the monster swarm through the hole, now big enough to let them through. As the Creepers have Cybil and Rose against a corner, Pyramid Head can be seen ramming his knife horizontally into the apparently thicker wall next to the door, cutting a Creeper in half as he does. Pyramid Head shoves his arm through the door, grasping for the handle. Cybil shoots him thraight through his arm, and he pauses. He may or may not have been hurt by the bullet, as the sirens then sound. Pyramid Head draws his arm badk, pulls his Great Knife out of the wall, and apparently disappears with the Otherworld. As the Otherworld lifts, Cybil is able to see a Creeper with a human face before it dies. The third and last time Pyramid Head is seen in the movie is when everyone is fleeing into the church when the Otherworld descends again. Dahlia stops Rose, speaking cryptically to her, but she is hit by a rock from Anna, a cultist. Anna screams "FILTH AND LIES" before hurling another rock. However, Anna cannot see Pyramid Head materializing behind her. As Cybil and Rose head towards the church doors, they hear a scream behind them, and turn around to find Pyramid Head, walking up the steps, holding a struggling Anna in the air by her throat. In full view of Cybil and Rose, Pyramid Head rips offf her dress, grabs her by her breast, and rips off her skin, killing her instantly. He then throws the skin at Cybil and Rose, and it hits the doors just as they close them behind themselves, spattering them with Anna's blood. This is the last time Pyramid Head is seen in the movie. Silent Hill: Homecoming At the opening dream sequence, as the playder is given control of Alex, they can see the doctor outside the room, being cut in half by a massive knife. After they leave the room, however, Alex will make it through the entire dream sequence without any sign of Pyramid Head, or as he is known in this game, the Bogeyman. Hpwever, near the end, they can see a gurney in the Operating Theater, with half of the doctor frim the beginning lying on it. At the very end of the dream sequence, Alex will enter an elevator, but the elevator will stop, and he will hear a mysterious scraping from beyind the elevator doors. As Alex leans in, the Bogeyman Knife plunges between the doors straight towards Alex's throat and the dream sequence ends. Much later in the game, Alex will hear the scraping again and see the Bogeyman dragging his knife down a corridor. Alex hides behing some furniture and when he peeks around, the Bogeyman looks straight at him. However, he merely turns and continues dragging his knife down the hall. Some Time afterwards, in Hell House, the Otherworld's incarnation of Shepherd House, Alex can find a medal for the Medal Puzzle based on the "Good Conduct Award" recieved by his father in the military. The medal bears the name "Vile Acts" and the inscription "For atrocities committed". The medal very cleary features the Bogeyman's distinctive helmet. Finally, in the Church, as Alex's father Adam reveals that Alex was never in the military, the Bogeyman appears behind him and Alex watches as his father is stabbed and cut in two, exactly like in the dream. Once again, the Bogeyman shows a complete lack of interest in Alex, merely walking away as Alex looks on in horror. Throughout the game, the player can find many drawings of a monster tormenting children, accompanied by horrible rhymes. These were rhymes were probably used by parents of the Order to scare their children and make them obey. Artwork In Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill: Origins, paintings of Pyramid Head can be seen. The painting in Silent Hill 2 depicts Pyramid Head holding a spear, with many caged figures hanging behind him. This painting is titled "Misty Day; Remains of the Judgement". In Origins, a painting of a Pyramid Head holding a spear in each hand can be seen. This painting is not titled and Travis expresses urgency at getting through the burning Gillespie House, where it is found. Media Pyramid Head is a favorite among fans of Silent Hill, and has starred in countless videos, artwork, and even fanfiction. His general appearance as well as his role as a punisher makes him a particularly gruesome monster, and as such, causes him to stand out easily against others. Pyramid Head has recieved fanatical applause from fans since his beginnings in Silent Hill 2. Many found him to be an amazing manifestation of that character's psyche as well as a terrifying enemy to behold. Category:Notable Icons